


To Serve Mordegon

by cruellae (tinkabelladk)



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: M/M, Spoilers for beginning of Act 2, knightly love, redemption (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 15:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17226503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinkabelladk/pseuds/cruellae
Summary: An intimate interlude, towards the beginning of Act 2. (Spoilers for the first part of Act 2)Hendrik has become a hero, and Jasper something else entirely. But their bond is strong, and always will be.Can be read as a companion piece to my other Hendrik/Jasper fic, but can also stand alone.





	To Serve Mordegon

Hendrik leaned against a tall, regal tree, which had survived the great harrowing, though its bark bore scars from the flames that had fallen from the sky that day, and most of its leaves had fallen in the midst of summertime. If it could even be called summertime. The darkness that shrouded the world had robbed it of season and color.

Hendrik was outside Bastion, keeping watch over the road from Heliodor from a campsite located beside a burned out building. In truth, he needed the solitude more than the road needed watching. The adoration of the people he saved was overwhelming, and their regard made him wince because they did not know his secret guilt.

He bit into a bitter apple, taken from someone’s winter stores. He did so reluctantly—he knew there were many more mouths to feed than food to give, but he understood that he must keep up his strength, or they would all suffer.

Shadows flickered at the edge of his campfire, and he straightened, drew his greatsword.

“I’m not here to fight you.” The familiar, haughty voice came from the very edge of the firelight. “You can relax.”

Hendrik lowered his blade, slowly. He knew he would lose, if it became a contest of strength, had seen Jasper best the Luminary and all his formidable companions like they were nothing more than toys. He also knew that he would not fight Jasper, not even the demonic creature he’d become, the monster who made a mockery of the noble knight Hendrik once knew.

“Why are you here, then?” Hendrik asked.

Jasper stepped into the circle of warm light. He was as pale as snow, and his hair had gone from the shining yellow of corn silk to completely white. “You drove me to this, you know,” he said, with bitterness. “With your strength and your fame, you left me behind. What did you really think would happen?”

Hendrik wondered if there was any truth to that. In his memories, he had always followed Jasper, who was bright and eager with a mind like quicksilver and a curiosity never sated. Even from boyhood, he had been content to go where Jasper led, and do as Jasper did, because he loved Jasper with a love that was almost canine in its simplicity and the depth of its devotion. Jasper, in his bright silver armor, was the shining light, the beacon Hendrik would have been content to follow the rest of his life.

“Do you know what it’s like?” Jasper said, cruel, taunting. “Do you know what it’s like to serve Mordegon?”

“No,” Hendrik said. “But whatever it is, whatever he’s given you, I hope it’s worth it.”

“It is,” Jasper whispered, and in a breath of sinister purple magic, he was standing just inches away from Hendrik, his hand hovering over Hendrik’s heart. “It’s power like you could never imagine. I could stop your heart right now, just like this, with a thought. Or rip it from your chest.”

Hendrik met Jasper’s cold eyes. “I’ve always found a sword works just fine too.”

“Of course you’re fearless,” Jasper said. “The noble hero, greeting death with his head held high. But what do you think would happen to the people of Bastion if you were to disappear?”

“My oath is not to them,” Hendrik said. “My oath is to you.”

“Because you’re a fool,” Jasper said. He pressed his palm flat against Hendrik’s chest, and Hendrik could feel cold radiating from his hand, even through his woven tunic. “I should kill you now and be done with it.”

Hendrik put his thick, calloused hand over Jasper’s long, slender fingers and held them gently. Jasper’s pale skin was like ice to the touch.

“You’re so cold,” Hendrik said.

Jasper looked into his eyes. “That’s what it is to serve Mordegon. It’s cold like you could never believe.”

“How long?” Hendrik asked.

Jasper looked away. “Since the fall of Dundrasil. That night—the night the king returned—was the first time I heard Mordegon’s voice.”

“Since we were boys, then,” Hendrik said. Jasper must have resisted Mordegon, fought off his sinister influence, for years before it started to creep into his words and actions. Hendrik wondered if he himself would have been able to resist for so long. Probably not. All Mordegon would have to offer was Jasper’s love, and Hendrik would have done almost anything. At least Jasper had traded his soul for something nobler—the strength to defeat his enemies.

He held Jasper’s hand in his own, pulled it away from his chest and raised it to his lips. At his touch, some warmth was beginning to return to Jasper’s skin.

“You’re a madman,” Jasper said.

“The world is going to end, Jasper,” Hendrik said. “I’m sure you know that I’ve done little more than prolong the inevitable for a few months. You can kill me now—it would hardly make a difference.”

“I didn’t know—” Jasper looked away. “I didn’t know this is what he intended. I should have seen it, but I made myself look away. When he promised I would rule Heliodor—I didn’t know it would become a graveyard first.”

Hendrik still held Jasper’s hand in his own, and he wondered how it was that the grateful smiles of every person he had saved from across the continent paled in comparison to the touch of this monster’s skin on his own.

Jasper lifted Hendrik’s hand, pressing Hendrik’s palm to his cheek and leaning into it. “You’re so warm,” he whispered. “I can’t remember the last time I was warm.”

“Then let me warm you,” Hendrik said. “Even if it’s just for tonight.”

Jasper pulled Hendrik close for desperate kisses, gasping for breath as Hendrik guided him to the blankets beside the fire. “Please,” he whispered, as Hendrik kissed the long, slender lines of his neck, the cold pale flesh of his shoulder. “Please.”

“What do you need?” Hendrik asked, pulling away. Jasper’s skin was warmer now, close to the temperature of a healthy body. “Jasper, just tell me what you need.”

Jasper shook his head and drew Hendrik closer. “Don’t leave me,” he said. “Don’t let me go.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3
> 
> Last year I wrote [the book of my heart](https://www.amazon.com/Dark-City-Sarah-Kay-Moll-ebook/dp/B07FP4M6BH).


End file.
